Considered
and decided by Halbrooks, Presiding Judge; Lansing, Judge; and Peterson, Judge.

U N P U B L I S H E D O P I N I O N

PETERSON, Judge

Pro se relator, Kimberly L. Gombold, challenges the
determination of the commissioner’s representative that she is disqualified
from receiving unemployment benefits because she quit her employment. Relator contends that she had good reason to
quit caused by the employer’s failure to address staffing shortages. Because the record supports the finding that
relator did not allow the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct the
staffing shortages, we affirm.

FACTS

Gombold was employed as an assistant center director
for Aramark Educational Resources at the Woodbury Children’s World Learning
Center from April 13, 1988, through February 5, 2003. In late spring 2002, the daycare center began having staffing
problems. Daycare centers are required
by law to maintain a teacher-to-child ratio that varies based on the children’s
ages. When a teacher calls in sick, or
is out on leave, the managers move children and/or teachers from one room to
another to maintain the required ratio.
On occasion, the Woodbury center was out of compliance.

Gombold
worked closely with the previous center director, Brenda Cadalbert, to resolve
staffing issues by helping out in the classrooms, in the kitchen, and driving
the van to pick up children. Cadalbert
testified that staffing “was an everyday struggle for us.”

In
January 2003, Cadalbert transferred to another facility, and Lisa Halverson
became the new center director.
Halverson’s first day of work was scheduled to be February 3, 2003. That morning, both Halverson and a staff
member called in sick. In a telephone
conversation, Gombold complained to Halverson that the center was short staffed
and she needed help. The next day,
Halverson and Gombold worked together for the first time. On February 5, 2003, Halverson again called
in the morning and told Gombold that she would be out of the office that
day. Gombold was again upset and told
Halverson that she needed help at the center.
When Halverson reiterated that she was not able to be there, Gombold
told her that Gombold could not remain employed under the circumstances and
quit her employment.

D E C I S I O N

An employee who quits employment is
disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits unless the employee quit
because of a good reason caused by the employer. Minn. Stat. 268.095, subd. 1(1) (2002). In addition, if an employee “was subjected to adverse working
conditions by the employer,” the employee “must complain to the employer and
give the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct the adverse working
conditions before that may be considered a good reason caused by the employer
for quitting.” Id., subd. 3(b)
(2002); see Larson v. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 281 N.W.2d 667, 669 (Minn.
1979) (holding that employee who quit because he claimed he was being harassed
by a coworker “had a duty to inform the employer of those allegations to allow
the employer the opportunity to correct the situation”). Whether an employee had good cause to quit
is a question of law. Wood v. Menard,
Inc., 490 N.W.2d 441, 443 (Minn. App. 1992). We review the commissioner’s representative’s factual findings in
the light most favorable to the decision and will not disturb them if the
record reasonably tends to sustain them.
Lolling v. Midwest Patrol, 545 N.W.2d 372, 377 (Minn. 1996).

There
is no dispute that Gombold quit her employment. In her brief, Gombold states her reason for quitting:

I had gone from working in a occasional high stress safe
working environment with extensive support from Brenda Cadalbert (Past Center
Director) to a very stressful and extremely unsafe environment with no support
from the new director, Lisa Halverson.

Due to the overwhelming responsibility of my job and not
enough support from management to staff the center according to the LAW I faced
a painful reality that I could no longer be responsible for the Children whom
rely on Childrens World Learning Centers to provide professional care. I had no choice but to resign immediately.

The
commissioner’s representative found that “Gombold quit her employment because
she was upset by the staffing shortage and its [e]ffect on the daycare’s legal
staffing requirements.” The record
demonstrates that Gombold had been working with staffing shortages on and off
since at least spring 2002. Staffing
issues had been the cause of high stress for Gombold when she worked with
Cadalbert, but with Cadalbert’s assistance, they resolved the staffing
issues. Upon learning that Halverson
was not going to help out in the daycare center as Cadalbert had, Gombold
quit. The commissioner’s representative
found that “[r]ather than allow the new center director a reasonable
opportunity to correct the shortage, Gombold quit her employment on February 5,
2003.”

When
Halverson called in sick on February 3, 2002, Gombold told her that the center
was short staffed and she needed help.
But by quitting two days later, Gombold failed to give the employer a
reasonable opportunity to correct the adverse working conditions caused by
Halverson’s failure to help out the way that Cadalbert had. Therefore, under Minn. stat. 268.095, subd.
3(b), those adverse working conditions may not be considered a good reason for
quitting caused by the employer.